


30 Days of Jorian

by Corrie71



Category: Almost Human
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Anal Sex, Baby Fic, Banter, Bickering, Birthday, Birthday Party, Birthday Sex, Breaking Up & Making Up, Christmas, Cosplay, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dorian wears a birthday hat, Dude ranch, First Kiss, Fluff, Frottage, Holding Hands, Ice Cream, Injury, M/M, Major Character Injury, Making Out, OTP Feels, Road Trips, Sex Pollen, Shopping, Sweet, Tea Parties, Vibrators, dorian rides a horse, dorian wears a cowboy hat, superbowl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:47:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 18,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1616525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corrie71/pseuds/Corrie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My take on a John and Dorian version of the OTP challenge...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Holding Hands

“Don’t worry, Dorian. Rudy will patch you right up.” John helped Dorian to the table in Rudy’s workshop, resolutely ignoring the fact that his partner had not been wearing his chest plate during the gun fight. Rudy would fix him. He had to. Gently, John laid Dorian down on the table, watching blue lights flicker under his handsome face and stepped back. Dorian stopped him by grabbing his hand in a tight grip.

“Aren’t you supposed to hold my hand? Moral support and all that?” Dorian’s voice was weaker that John would have liked, more garbled. He shouted for Rudy as he cradled Dorian’s hand against his chest, just over his heartbeat. Rudy dashed over, turning a whiter shade of pale when he caught sight of the extent of Dorian’s injuries. 

“Fix him, man!” John snapped. Rudy glanced up and met John’s gaze. It was as serious as he’d feared. Rudy dashed around the room, gathering supplies. John looked back down into Dorian’s face, serene as ever. Dorian’s hand tightened in his, the only outward sign of fear.

“Don’t let go, John.” 

“I won’t.”

And he didn’t. Not when Dorian’s blue eyes went to opaque obsidian. Not when sparks flew out of Dorian’s chest cavity and Rudy cursed, long and fluently, in language that would make most cops blush. Not when his leg stump ached and he wanted nothing more than to sit down. He stood sentinel next to the table during the three hours it took Rudy to fix Dorian, still cradling his hand over his heart, hoping that, wherever Dorian was now, he could feel the steady beat. When Rudy hooked Dorian to the temporary charging unit, John slid over a chair for his vigil. He would stay until Dorian awoke.

“We’ll know more in the morning. Once he’s had a full charge…I did all I could, John, but…”

“He’ll be ok.” John said with more confidence and conviction than he felt. He relaxed back into the chair, still holding Dorian’s hand, and fell asleep. When he woke in the morning, the first thing he saw was the bright ocean blue of Dorian’s eyes. Tears of relief pricked at the back of his own eyes and he swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. 

“You stayed.” Dorian whispered, smiling shyly. 

“Of course. It’s what partners do. How do you feel?” John sat up, every joint in his body aching, his stiff muscles screaming in protest. 

“I’m good, John.” Dorian squeezed his fingers. “Thank you for staying.”

John looked into those turquoise eyes and thought of confessing all the feelings he’d finally faced while he’d been standing there holding his android partner’s hand. Instead, he said, “I’m starving. I’m going to get a doughnut. Maybe two.” 

Dorian chuckled as John stood, gently placing Dorian’s hand back on his own chest and prying his fingers loose. He headed to the cafe, thinking that maybe he’d have the courage to confess his feelings tomorrow.


	2. Cuddling Somewhere

“I’m fine, Dorian.” John said, through his chattering teeth. “Just a bit chilly.”

John raised his hands to his face to blow on them and, even in the dim light, a purplish tint crept along the tips of John’s fingers. Hot shame and guilt pooled in Dorian’s gut. Their misadventure was all his fault. Because of him and his desperate need for answers about the childhood memories that had surfaced, John was getting frostbite. 

Using John’s shadowy network of informants and several well-placed bribes, they’d managed to get to the other side of the wall and track his maker—his father—to his bolt hole. Of course, Nigel Vaughn wasn’t about to volunteer the answers that Dorian sought so desperately. He’d led them on a merry chase, which ended up with John falling into a lake, in January. Soaked to the skin, they’d taken refuge in the warren of underground tunnels, not sure how to get home without the trappings of modern technology. 

“How do people live like this?” Dorian snapped. They just had to keep walking. They’d find their way out. Dorian could not give in to the panic that whirred through his mind. 

“You mean, on the other side of the wall?” John asked, through lips turning blue with cold. “Amish have done it for centuries. In some ways, there is something alluring about living off the grid, free from the tether of technology.” He wrapped his arms around himself, shuddering, leaning against the wall at a fork in the tunnels. “I wouldn’t choose it. But, I understand it. They just want to be unplugged.”

Dorian glanced at John, alarmed to see his eyes drifting shut. “No, John! Wake up.” 

He patted the side of John’s face and wrapped his arms around him, cuddling him close against his chest. Dorian knew John’s condition was serious when the man made only a token protest before snuggling close, whispering Dorian’s name. If only he could warm him but he had no body heat to share. Though his own charge drifted dangerously low, Dorian picked John up, ignoring his protests and began to run, splashing through the brackish water in the tunnels. Just as Dorian’s batteries reached less than 10%, he saw lights—traffic! The headlights of passing cars! Relief swamped him. Still cradling John to his chest, not able to spare the power to check his vitals, Dorian charged out of the tunnel and waved down a passing motorist. 

Though John groused about having to stay in the hospital overnight to treat his hypothermia and it took Dorian more than few hours to re-charge, Dorian remained profoundly grateful they’d made it back to the other side safely. He’d just have to find his answers on this side of the wall instead.


	3. Gaming or Watching a Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I went with the gaming portion of this prompt...

“You never invite me to your poker nights.” Dorian complained. They were in the middle of a long stakeout. They’d been sitting here so long that his charge was depleting. Dorian was just plain bored. 

“I don’t have poker nights.” John sipped his coffee and glanced back at the door they were supposed to be covering.

“But if you did…”

“I still wouldn’t invite you.”

“Rudy says you used to have poker nights.” Ever since Rudy mentioned the legendary poker nights that John used to run with his former partner, Dorian seethed with jealousy on the subject. 

“Back in the day…before…” John gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He hated talking about the time before, the time with Anna, before he lost his leg, and spent seventeen months in a coma. 

Dorian waited until John loosened his grip on the steering wheel to speak again. “We should start one up then.”

“Who is the we in that sentence?” John rummaged though the box of doughnut holes on his lap, seeking his favorite cinnamon ones.

“You, me, and Rudy.”

“That sounds like hell.”

Dorian sighed and tried another tactic. “I bet that the suspect will be wearing a green jacket.”

“And if he is?” John glanced over at him. 

“We hold a poker night.”

“And if he isn’t, you’ll shut up about poker nights?”

“Sure.” Dorian shrugged. Dorian didn’t point out that he’d had access to the MX’s video feeds and had already seen the suspect entering the building. From what he understood from Rudy, cheating well was a key part of poker. 

“Agreed.” John shook his hand, dusting them both with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Dorian loved making bets with John because then John voluntarily touched him. When the suspect they were waiting on careened into the alleyway, running flat out, with Stahl in hot pursuit, there was no missing the kelly green jacket he wore. He looked like a demented leprechaun. Dorian bolted from the car and the suspect ran straight into him before dropping like he’d hit a brick wall. 

“Damn it! I forgot it’s St. Patrick’s Day.” John groused as they cuffed the suspect. “Fine. Poker night on Saturday.”

That weekend, John desperately tried to teach both Rudy and Dorian the fundamentals of poker. Neither seemed able to grasp it. So, instead of poker, the following Saturday night was spent drinking light beer, eating baked chips, and playing go fish with Rudy and Dorian.


	4. On a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I cheated a bit since they aren't on a date with each other here...

John wondered where Dorian was when he went to pick up his lunch order at the Noodles and Company nearest the station. He’d calmed down enough to talk rationally, though he still felt the droid owed him an apology. Just because John had offered to plug him in next to the toaster. He’d meant it kindly as Dorian seemed cranky and out of sorts this morning. John apparently shouldn’t mention his low charge. He’d missed that finer point of android etiquette. Still, that was no call for Dorian to throw the toaster at him. John liked that toaster. It burnt his toast just right every morning. 

Dorian owed him a toaster. 

And an apology.

Their morning argument hadn’t even been that bad, by their standards, but Dorian made himself scarce afterwards. John hadn’t seen him all morning as he caught up on the mounds of paperwork he’d neglected for months. 

_Where could Dorian be?_ He was probably hiding out with Rudy. _Coward_. John grabbed his takeout bag of chicken pad thai. He had no desire to hear another lecture from his partner about how, since he was over 40 now, he should avoid red meat. 

“Just cause he never ate a perfectly cooked rare steak…” John muttered and then stopped to stare as he recognized a certain android he knew. In a booth in the back, Dorian sat across from a blonde woman, laughing and joking.

“I didn’t know he watched anyone but me eat.” John mumbled as he made his way over to the table. Who could Dorian be having—watching—whatever—lunch with? As he got closer, he recognized the woman but struggled to place the name. Then he heard her tagline in his head: _“On good days, I’m a petite psychic._ ”

“Maya! What a surprise. How nice to see you again.” John said. He crowded next to Dorian in the booth, ignoring the press of the android’s thigh against his. John favored Maya with warm smile, just to irritate the toaster murderer. 

“You got your food to go.” Dorian pointed out. 

“Come on, D. You’re making me feel unwelcome.” John flung an arm over his shoulders and Dorian quickly shrugged it off. “What’re you all chatting about?” 

“Nothing.” Dorian said flatly.

“It’s private.” Maya said and John’s eyes widened. She blushed a bit and squeezed Dorian’s hand. _Oh.my.god. Were they on a…could this be…a date?_ John glanced at Dorian who wouldn’t look at him. He’d crashed his android partner’s lunch date. _Could his life get any weirder?_ John raised his eyebrows before grabbing his meal and struggling to his feet. 

“Don’t want to interrupt anything.” John backed away from the table as Maya called out the inexplicable parting line: “Your aura is less orange today. More green.” 

_That woman was just plain weird. But, if kooky flipped Dorian’s switches, who was he to judge?_

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, John was still gulping down pad thai when Dorian returned to the station. He took the chair across from him, clasped his hands in his lap and waited. When John could not stand the nearly physical press of Dorian’s turquoise eyes any longer, he snapped, “What?”

“I’m waiting.”

“For what?” 

“My apology.”

“I’m sorry I crashed your lunch date. That’s why I left.”

“My lunch date?” Dorian blinked at him, clearly taken aback. 

“With Mira.”

“Maya.” 

John shrugged. Whatever. “You’re free to have lunch—watch—whatever—with anyone you’d like. No skin off my nose.”

“Just pad thai on your chin.” Dorian said before stomping away.

“Now what? You still owe me a toaster! And an apology!”


	5. First Kiss

“I’m seeing Maya again tomorrow. For dinner this time.” Dorian announced about a week after their luncheon meeting. John grunted and continued eating the spicy shrimp and pineapple stir fry Dorian had prepared for him. After Rudy’s little mishap—that accidentally incinerated his lab—last week, Dorian moved in with John. Dorian hoped permanently but John kept threatening to make him sleep in the car. 

Dorian didn’t think he was serious.

“Moving up from lunch to dinner. Must be love.” John teased between bites of shrimp.

“I do have a favor.” Dorian fiddled with the dishtowel and didn’t meet John’s eyes.

“I will not drive you to your dinner date. My cruiser does not say ‘Mom taxi’ on it.”

“She’s picking me up. That’s not the favor.”

“You need money?” John reached for his wallet but Dorian shook his head.

“No. I need to learn to kiss.”

John dropped his chopsticks. They bounced on the counter before rolling onto the floor with a clatter. He blinked at Dorian. “Kiss?”

Dorian nodded at John, never breaking eye contact. “And I want you to teach me.”

“Not a chance.” John said flatly, accepting the second pair of chopsticks that Dorian handed him.

“You afraid you can’t do it?” 

“That’s not it.” John laughed and shook his head. 

“Too out of practice?” Dorian pretended to consider. “You’re right. I’ll just ask Detective Stahl.”

“You cannot just wander around the precinct asking people to teach you to kiss!” John dropped his face into his hands, muttering to himself. “How is this my life?”

“Can’t you at least give me some tips?”

“Never look directly into the sun.” John deadpanned and then laughed uproariously. He always laughed at his own jokes. It was one of the things Dorian loved best about his partner. 

“Come on, man. You have to help me.” Dorian gave him his best puppy dog eyes and mentally started counting. He got to 15 before John cracked. 

“Okay, here are my tips. Cup her face in your hands and be gentle at first. And then, if things are going well, you can either bite—gently—on her lower lip or…”

“How will I know if things are going well?”

“Well, if she doesn’t shove you away or slap you, you can consider that a good sign.”

Dorian considered and then shook his head. “I need some real world experience. You have to kiss me.”

“No way.” Dorian rounded the counter and stood next to John who scowled up at him. 

“Fine then. I’ll kiss you.” Before John could protest, Dorian cupped his cheeks in his palms and brushed his mouth over John’s plush lips. John tasted of ginger, pineapple, and sesame. John didn’t shove him away or slap him so Dorian pressed nearer, sliding his hand into John’s silky hair and pulling him closer. John clutched at Dorian’s shoulders but Dorian pressed against him, keeping John off balance on the barstool. He sucked John’s lip between his, nipping gently, and John moaned, wrapping his arms around Dorian before kissing him back. 

Were first kisses supposed to be this good? This intense? Dorian broke the kiss. John blinked up at him, dazed, his breathing hard and erratic. Dorian scanned him and noted his increased pulse. Dorian knew the exact second that he’d realized what they’d done. He patted Dorian’s shoulders before sliding off the barstool, leaving his half-eaten dinner behind.

“That’s good. Do that tomorrow. Your date will go great. Good night.” John bumped his hip on the counter before fleeing down the hall toward his bedroom. Dorian tried not to laugh. He didn’t have a date with Maya. He’d just wanted to test his theory that John had been jealous the week before. 

He wasn’t sure when he’d get to make another move on John again but at least he was pretty sure John wasn’t going to make him sleep in the car anytime soon.


	6. Wearing Each Other's Clothes

“Where’d you get that shirt?” John demanded when Dorian strolled out of the spare room the morning after their first kiss. “And why are you wearing it?”

Dorian plucked at the too-small white t-shirt, emblazoned with a traffic cone orange cartoon cheetah. “I’m going to the gym with you. And I got the shirt from your bookcase. It was mixed in with your trophies.”

“That’s because it is a trophy! They called me the white cheetah. I ever tell you that?”

“About a thousand times.” Dorian rolled his eyes.

“Take it off. You’re stretching it out. You don’t need to go to the gym anyway.” Dorian shrugged and slipped the t-shirt over his head. John swallowed his coffee wrong at the sight of his partner’s perfectly sculpted chest.

As John coughed, Dorian slipped his fingertips under the waistband of the emerald gym shorts he’d found with the t-shirt. “Guess I should take these off too, huh, John?”

John struggled to breathe as he shook his head and retreated to the kitchen with Dorian’s laughter trailing behind him.


	7. Cosplaying

“What’s so special about the 82nd anniversary of the premiere of some old-school sci-fi show?” John demanded when Maldanado called them into her office for a briefing.

“It’s where the murder occurred this morning. Don’t try to pretend like you don’t still have your costume.” Sandra answered. 

John flushed as Dorian asked, “Costume?”

“Seven years running, John came to the department Halloween bash dressed in the exact same costume.” Sandra told Dorian.

“I just wanted to get my money’s worth.”

“Who did he dress as?” Dorian asked.

Sandra smiled, “Captain Kirk.”

“Come on, Sandra! You know Kirk wears gold.”

“Oh, that’s right.” She laughed. “Spock!”

“Spock.” John shook his head in disgust. “I dressed as McCoy.”

“Bones?” Dorian answered with delight. They’d been working their way through the original series for the past several weeks. “You do look a bit like him. I bet the blue shirt makes your eyes look really green.”

“So, you have the costume, John. You get the case. Dorian can go as…”

“Doctor M’Benga. John has a spare science blue shirt in the back of his closet.”

“Dorian!” John hissed as Sandra laughed again. 

“Off you go, boys! Don’t have too much fun.” She shooed them out of the office, still giggling.

They solved the murder case fairly quickly—an open and shut domestic. But John and Dorian—as Bones and M’Benga—spent the rest of the weekend at the convention having the time of their lives.


	8. Shopping

“I need you to drive me to the mall.”

“Why, sweetie, meeting all your little robot friends for a movie?” John laughed at his own joke. Dorian just glared at him.

“I need to buy a Christmas gift for Maya.”

“Maya? You’re still seeing her?”

“Yes, we meet for lunch or dinner at least once a week. She’s a lot of fun.”

“You know, she’s no relation to your dad. She’s not your sister or whatever weird notion you got stuck in your robot brain.”

“They share the same last name. I still think there is probably some connection there.”

John resisted the urge to slam his forehead into the steering wheel and knock himself unconscious. They’d been over this at least a hundred times with Dorian refusing to budge from his “hunch.” Still, John understood the desperate, burning desire for answers. So, he guessed they’d go over it 101 times. “Dorian…there are lots of people with the last name Vaughn. It’s a coincidence.”

“You’ve said yourself that there are no such thing as coincidences. Anyway, don’t change the subject. I need you to take me to the mall.”

“So you can buy a Christmas gift for your girlfriend? Do you have any idea what a shopping mall is like at Christmas time? And just where do you plan to get the credits to purchase this gift?”

“You’ll give me the credits. And no, I have never been to a shopping mall at Christmas time. And yes, I want to buy a gift for Maya.” Dorian leveled the puppy dog eyes at him. John glanced away, shaking his head. He was going to end up in a goddamn mall the Saturday before Christmas. He prayed that dispatch would break in with a nice juicy murder but the commo unit stayed stubbornly silent.

“Why can you just be a normal robot and order something online?” John asked before turning the cruiser toward the mall. 

They wandered around the brightly decorated, overheated mall with the endless soundtrack of Christmas songs jangling away. John wandered around in Dorian’s wake, not really sure what he was looking for. Desperate to get out of the noisy, overcrowded mall, John started offering helpful suggestions. 

“Women like these lotions and potions.” John gestured at a towering display of pastel lotions and bath salts.

“Perfume is too personal.” Dorian shook his head. 

“How about chocolate? Anna loved…” here John trailed off a bit. “Anna loved Godiva.”

“No…Maya doesn’t like sweets.”

“Gift cards are always a good option.” 

Dorian shook his head. “Impersonal.”

“Perfume is too personal and gift card are impersonal. No pleasing you.” John muttered as he trailed along. “What to buy for the petite psychic who has everything? Hey, do you think she’ll be able to guess your present?” 

Dorian glared at him. “You aren’t remotely helpful.”

They pressed on through the throng of shoppers to the center of the mall. Dorian stopped to stare at the three story Christmas tree, decorated all in white with blinking lights. Santa sat in his workshop beneath the tree as the line to see him snaked down the mall. Behind them, a group of carolers began singing. Dorian smiled as he glanced around. John only had eyes for the wonder and joy on Dorian’s face. 

Maybe the mall at Christmas wasn’t so bad after all.


	9. Hanging Out with Friends

“I don’t understand the point of this.” 

“It’s a Superbowl party.” John rolled his eyes. “It’s tradition—eighty-second annual and all that.”

“Why can’t we just stay home and watch the sporting event?”

“No one says sporting event. It’s game.” John shook his head and kept packing the completely unhealthy snacks he’d insisted on buying at the market. Dorian hadn’t even known they made such a thing as dill pickle potato chips. 

“You don’t even like football.” 

“I do like football.” John protested. “I used to play football before…” John gestured at his leg. 

“They called you the white cheetah. Yeah, I know.” 

“I may have mentioned that a time or two.”

“Or twenty.”

“Come on, D. It’ll be fun. The game is not really the important thing. It’s an event. Used to watch with my dad every year. Maybe you’ll like the commercials.”

Dorian helped him carry the bags to the cruiser. He didn’t really enjoy attending department social events like this one. The other MXs would be below, safely ensconced in their charging chambers. He’d be the only non-human in attendance at a gathering that centered around an antiquated game, unhealthy food, and beer—none of which he found interesting in the slightest—being politely ignored by most of the other human cops. Still, John loved it and Dorian loved John, even if the stubborn human wouldn’t acknowledge it, so to the station they went.

“Oh, look, Sandra made those strawberries dipped in chocolate for dessert. She decorates them to look like little footballs. And Val made that BLT dip I like.” John joyfully headed over to the table to load up an artery clogging plate. Dorian heard his happy cry of “chicken wings!” as he found a seat in the shadowy back of the room. Rudy came in and made a beeline for him.

“Thank God you’re here.”

“Why? Do you have a case?” Dorian sat up straight, hope surging through him. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to endure this ritual after all. Rudy looked at him, his brow furrowed. 

“So I’ll have a friend to talk to. I know nothing about football.” 

“If you don’t like football, why are you here?”

“Just trying to be part of the gang.” 

“Rudy, come get some chicken wings before they’re gone.” Valerie called. 

Rudy excused himself to fill his plate as Dorian watched the room. John seemed much more animated than usual, lifted out of his cranky self by the camaraderie (and possibly the vast amount of sugary carbohydrates he’d just inhaled). Dorian observed for a bit, watching the cops laughing and joking with each other, far more relaxed than they were during a normal, stress filled workday. 

And then he understood. This was what it was like to have friends.


	10. With Animal Ears

“This is all your fault.” John snapped at Dorian.

“How can you blame me for this?”

“We were late to the party because you couldn’t pick a toy for the kid and now we’re left with…” John waved at the the remaining choices displayed on the hall table. Val and Sandra’s daughter, Layla, turned six today. She wanted to be a zoologist so chose an animal themed party and insisted that her guests become some of her favorite creatures. There were two choices left—a pair of tiny, round, speckled giraffe ears and a pair of pointed, fluffy, pink and black kitten ears. No way was John putting those cat ears on. 

“Because you couldn’t chose between a doll or those pink plastic purses…”

“You think I want to listen to Sandra complain all afternoon about the sexism inherent in the toy industry? The book and board game are a much safer choice. Trust me.” John glanced back down at the bowl. If he could just keep Dorian distracted while he got the giraffe ears. He did not want to be a black cat in front of all the other cops. John lunged for the giraffe ears but Dorian plucked them out from under his fingers with a grin.

“Saw what you were going to do ten minutes ago. Way too obvious, John.” Dorian positioned the giraffe ears on his head and favored John with a sunny smile. 

John donned the cat ears, rubbing his nose with the pink face paint and drawing whiskers with a makeup pencil. “There is no one else on earth I’d do this for other than that kid.”

“You do look rather adorable. Say ‘meow’ for me.”

“I hate you.”

“Awww. Grumpy cat.” Dorian leaned closer and whispered, “I’ll make you meow later.”

“I might use you as a scratching post.”

“Promises, promises, kitty cat.” Dorian pressed a kiss to John’s cheek, careful to avoid the drawn-on whiskers. They laughed together, linking hands, comfortable together after a decade as lovers, and walked out in the back lawn of the house. Chaos reigned in Val and Sandra’s normally peaceful backyard. They’d really gone all out for this party with balloons everywhere, a face painting station, even a bouncy zoo. And apparently invited every screaming child in Los Angeles. 

“Uncle John!” Layla ran to him and extended her arms. He swung her up in the air, tossing her above his head. She giggled as she glanced at both their costumes. “Uncle D is a giraffe. What noise do giraffes make, Uncle D?”

John laughed at the panicked look on Dorian’s face and watched as his processors lit up the side of his cheek. “Don’t blow a circuit there. They don’t make noise, do they, Miss Layla?”

She shook her head and jumped down to join her friends. John and Dorian sat together, near the edge of the yard, watching the kids run around, all on sugar highs. John sipped a beer, chatting easily with their friends that stopped by. As the children gravitated to the far side of the yard to beat the hell out of a piñata, John glanced at Dorian. 

“You’re quiet today.”

“I was wrong.”

“Well, that’s not something I get to hear every day.” John said. “I accept your apology. What were you wrong about?”

“You are good with kids. Really good, actually. You’d have made a good dad, John.”

John shifted, glancing away. Once upon a time, he’d imagined a life with Anna very much like the one Sandra and Val shared. A beautiful house, white picket fence, adorable child…. Instead, he’d lost his leg, laid in a coma for 17 months, and ended up falling madly in love with his partner. His male android partner. He loved D with all his heart but he couldn’t deny that his life was very different from what he’d imagined it would be. Dorian reached over and twined their fingers together. “I just wondered…” Dorian’s fingers tightened on his as he continued. “If that was one more thing our relationship cost you.”

“I’d rather have you.”

“We could…” Dorian began, hesitantly.

“Dorian, we can’t even get legally married. We’re cops. I don’t think a child would fit with our lifestyle.”

“But if it could…”

“This isn’t the time or the place to talk about it, D.” John gulped his beer and glanced away from the determined look on his lover’s face. He knew they would end up talking about it. No one could out stubborn his D. 

Except possibly John himself.


	11. One Is Awake While the Other is Asleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A happy ending to yesterday's prompt...

“My mom used to tell me: ‘Someday, John Reginald, you’ll have a child. And I hope that child is just like you.’” John confided in his infant daughter at 3 am. “I think she cursed me, eh, Ella?” 

The baby smiled and his lips turned up in response. John knew that, technically, at four weeks, Ella wasn’t old enough to smile. He swore she’d smiled at him in the delivery room though so his testimony was deeply suspect anyway. He’d been besotted with the child from the moment he held her in his arms, convinced she was the most precious, most beautiful, and smartest baby in the world.

After several months of soul-searching after their conversation at the birthday party, he agreed to have a child with Dorian via surrogate. John hadn’t known it was possible to love anyone this much. Ella was perfect, healthy and beautiful. And she’d certainly shown her personality in the few weeks she’d been home. Ella inherited all of John’s stubbornness and will. She ruled the roost. 

Of course, Dorian let her get away with anything. He’d stay up all night, feeding her, rocking her, singing to her. She loved to watch the blue lights twinkle across her daddy’s cheek. Dorian adored the baby. Tonight, John insisted that Dorian rest and get a full charge. He’d even taken a nap to prepare for his all night adventure with Ella. She didn’t like to sleep at all and she hated to be put down. Dorian wore her in a sling most of the time.

“The not sleeping thing you didn’t get from me.” He chatted away to her as they walked up and down the moonlit hallway. Ella watched him, her turning-to-hazel eyes wide and attentive. “Sleeping is a good thing. You should try it more often.”

The baby scowled at him and John laughed as he recognized his own expression in miniature. She struggled free of her swaddle blanket. John was a terrible swaddler and she always got free with him. Dorian seemed to be able to master baby care with ease. She reached up and he leaned down to her. She swiped at his cheek clumsily. 

“You miss the blue lights, don’t you?” John brushed a kiss over the downy dark hair on her head. “Come on, baby girl, let’s go wake up your daddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story can be read as an epilogue to my Almost Human/AOS Star Trek crossover, Temporal Paradox. In that story, Ella is revealed to be Bones’ great (times four) grandmother and John Kennex is his great- (times five) grandfather.


	12. Making Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to WeWillSpockYou for coming up with the name for the experimental drug here. Cupid's Crush was perfect!

“What’s this stuff called again?” Richard Paul called to the other detectives gathering evidence at the drug warehouse they’d busted that morning.

“Cupid’s Crush.” Valerie answered in disgust. “It’s like ecstasy and a roofie all in one. They add it to people’s drinks and enjoy the results.”

“It’s like sex pollen?” Paul asked, snapping on purple evidence gloves.

“It lowers your inhibitions but it only highlights an attraction that was already there. No drug can manufacture desire.” Dorian corrected.

Next to him, John picked up a case of the drug to carry out to the evidence trucks. Despite the fact that his leg was on the fritz, John insisted on trying to carry as much as possible. Dorian rolled his eyes at his partner’s ridiculous display of machismo and crossed the room to him, trying to take the case out of his arms. John jerked back, glaring at Dorian, putting all his weight on his electronic leg just as the leg shorted. He fell backwards, dropping the case on the floor. A cinnamon colored cloud puffed out and dusted John’s face. 

“Does that stuff work if inhaled?” Paul yelled to no one in particular.

“Affirmative, sir. Detective Kennex just inhaled a dose enough for a 5,500 kilogram male.” Valerie’s MX answered tonelessly, carrying two boxes toward the exit.

“5,500 kilograms is…” Paul’s forehead creased as he tried to do the math.

“The size of a full grown elephant.” Dorian said as he hauled John to his feet, keeping his hand on his arm to hold him steady.

“You better watch out, Val.” Paul commented with a laugh before he radioed in, “Kennex just got a dose of Cupid’s Crush that would fell an elephant.”

“You ok, John?” Val asked, patting his arm. “The paramedics are on their way.”

“No need. I’m fine.”

“John, you just inhaled an experimental drug…” Dorian said, as he peered into John’s eyes. He didn’t see any reaction but they didn’t know how long it took for the drug to take effect. 

“Doesn’t seem to be having any effect.” John shrugged. “Stop worrying.”

“Who’s worried?” Dorian said, keeping his voice pitched low. 

Just a few seconds later, John’s eyes widened. “Maybe I spoke too soon.”

John’s eyes dilated and color flooded his face and neck. After a quick scan, he confirmed that John displayed all the symptoms of sexual desire—increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, quick breathing. 

Despite Dorian’s best efforts, he could not get John to kiss him again after their passionate kiss in John’s kitchen. For weeks after he’d stolen his first kiss from John, John had acted weird around him. Dorian worked hard to keep everything just as it had been before their kiss. And, if as he laid in his charging station at night, if the sense memory of spicy ginger and pineapple trailed over the circuits of his mind, well, that was for Dorian to know and John never to find out.

John glanced at Valerie. Dorian had always suspected he had a crush on Val. She was beautiful, smart, and kind. And John didn’t know that she and Sandra Maldanado had been together for about six months. He glanced away, not wanting to see John’s reactions to Valerie as his chest ached from this confirmation of John’s disinterest in him. 

“ETA on the paramedics: three minutes.” Dorian said. 

“Not going to make it that long.” John ground out. Without warning, John grabbed Dorian’s upper arm and pulled him to face him. Their eyes met for a moment, John nearly panting, before he grabbed the back of Dorian’s neck and pulled him down for a deep kiss. He cupped Dorian’s face, slanting his mouth desperately over Dorian’s, slipping his tongue along the seam of Dorian’s lips to curl around Dorian’s tongue. John’s hands fisted in the back of Dorian’s jacket pulling him closer, pressing them together from hip to shoulder. Dorian could feel the evidence of John’s desire pressed against his hip. 

With all the onlookers, Dorian didn’t dare kiss John back. They’d decommission him on the spot. He made sure to record every second of their kiss in an encrypted file to keep him occupied during his free time. The paramedics arrived and gave John a shot of the antidote in his butt. In seconds, John released Dorian and backed away, looking horrified. He swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, staring wide-eyed at Dorian.

“I’m sorry, Dorian.”

“No need to apologize, John. You were under the influence of an experimental drug.” Valerie said, shooting a quelling look at Paul as Dorian helped John to a chair across the warehouse, watching the paramedics monitor John. He eavesdropped on Valerie and Paul’s low conversation with no shame. 

“Val, he made out with his DRN unit. They’re going to kick him off the force for forming an unnatural attachment.” Paul said, his voice low and concerned.

“Not if we don’t say anything. An experimental drug can make someone act very out of character.” Valerie commented. “No need for concern.”

“This drug—it just highlights what’s under the surface, strips your inhibitions…He’s in love with his DRN.” 

“His name is Dorian.” Val snapped. “And, with all he’s been through…Sandra gave him Dorian for a reason. She just says they are both special. If we don’t make a big deal out of it, it’ll be ok. Just don’t say anything about it. Detective Kennex was exposed to an experimental drug and the antidote was safely administered. No need to mention the rest.”

“Does this mean I can’t show the video of it at the next staff meeting?” Paul joked and Dorian relaxed. Val and Paul would keep it quiet at least long enough to figure out if John really did have feelings for him. For the first time, he hoped that Detective Paul was right about something.


	13. Eating Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of yesterday's making out prompt...

John dumped more chocolate syrup directly into the gallon of chocolate ice cream and picked up a spoon. Idly, he swirled together the marshmallows and graham crackers he’d already added. He tasted it and felt it needed something more. He grabbed some peanut butter and a handful of potato chips. There, just right. And Dorian wasn’t there to chide him about his juvenile eating habits. No doubt the DRN feared he’d be throughly kissed again as John came down from his high. 

John’s cheeks burned as he resolutely pushed all thoughts of _the incident_ away. He’d been drugged, not in his right mind. The ER doc said he’d have a bad case of the munchies as he came down from Cupid’s Crush but, otherwise, should suffer no ill effects. Little did the kindly doctor know that John had just made out with his android partner in front of half the station house and who knew how many MXs?

“No ill effects, my ass.” John muttered, slurping his sundae down. He’d never live this down…Maybe he should change his name and move to New Zealand. John took a bite of the ice cream and tried to be rational and adult about this. 

So he’d kissed Dorian. No big deal, right?

So he’d kissed Dorian in front of Valerie and Richard. They could keep their mouths shut. Both assured him that they understood he’d been under the influence of a experimental drug. No harm, no foul. This probably meant he’d have to be nice to Richard for the foreseeable future. 

“Always something, isn’t it?” John mused. 

So he’d kissed Dorian and…

He dropped the spoon and buried his face in his hands, the memory of that long, intense kiss spooling through his mind. Why couldn’t the drug makers have had the mercy to put a memory eraser in their little experimental cocktail? John remembered every millisecond of their passionate embrace. At least it had been passionate on his end. John rubbed his hand over his face, humiliation pooling in his stomach. Dorian tolerated his assault with patience and good grace. 

What was the matter with him? Val had been standing right there, directly next to him, closer than Dorian. The logical, sensible thing to do would have been to kiss her. No one would think anything of it. She was beautiful, sexy, sweet, smart…and she was completely not the snarky android that his body—his traitorous body— _wanted_. His body clearly knew what it wanted and, under the influence of Cupid’s Crush, overruled his mind and announced his desire to the world. 

Like Dorian said, there was no drug that could completely manufacture desire. Cupid’s Crush just stripped him of his willpower. He’d been fighting not to act on this insane desire for Dorian for months. He’d barely been cleared to return to duty as it was and indulging in a sexual relationship with his android partner would certainly not help his career. He’d be busted down to traffic cop—if they even let him keep his badge-- and Dorian…

He couldn’t risk what a romantic relationship would do to Dorian. Most likely, he’d be decommissioned and junked for parts. Best case scenario, he’d be able to convince the department that Kennex had taken advantage and Dorian would be assigned to someone else while John checked parking meters and wrote tickets. 

And would he be taking advantage? Dorian claimed to have been created with free will along with his synthetic soul. In so many ways, Dorian was a total innocent. Would starting a relationship with Dorian make John no better than a sexbot client? John didn’t have the answers to any of this. He thought about it often as he drifted off to sleep…and suffered the erotic dreams that plagued him of a handsome lover with turquoise eyes and chocolate skin. 

He shoved the melting ice cream away and laid his head on the counter. How could he ever face Dorian again? He wished he could just die of embarrassment. Maybe he could just stay here, safely in the apartment, and never have to face anyone from the outside world. He wondered if he could get meals on wheels to go to his favorite noodle place.

Just then, the doorbell chimed. John ignored it as buzzed again twice. The door swung open and he glanced up to see Dorian striding into the kitchen. 

“He’s in here.” Dorian called to someone over his shoulder. “You don’t answer the door now?”

“What are you doing here?” John demanded as Sandra followed Dorian into the kitchen. Oh, this must be very bad if she came in person. From the serious look on her face, she was going to demand his badge and his gun right this minute. 

“I’ve never seen anyone eat potato chips, chocolate ice cream, and peanut butter together.” She commented, peering at the half-melted concoction. “Bad day?”

“Sandra, I can explain…”

“John, I’ve come with some bad news.” 

“Please take it out on me. Just leave Dorian out of this, Sandy. It’s not his fault.” Sandra’s brows drew together, confusion written on her features. 

“Your grandmother passed away, John.” Dorian cut in. And John looked at him. Was it possible they weren’t here about the Cupid’s Crush thing?

“Your dad’s mom, John. I’m so sorry. I came to express my condolences and grant you a week of bereavement leave.” Sandra patted his arm. John nodded and thanked her. “I assume you’ll want to travel to Montana?”

“Gram lived just outside Billings.” John nodded, trying to adjust to the unexpected topic and slow his racing heart. He wasn’t being kicked off the force. He couldn’t look at Dorian though. His cheeks burned from just being in the same room with him.

“Dorian has requested that he accompany you, in case anyone from the Syndicate would attempt to harm you in route. I’ve approved that as well. I’m glad you won’t be alone up there.” Sandra offered him a quick, brief hug and left. 

“Guess we’re going to Big Sky Country!” Dorian said, a big grin splitting his face.


	14. First Trip Away Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorian discovers a secret about John...

The next morning, John drove them out of the city with Dorian being uncharacteristically quiet. He looked around with interest, especially as they sped past the urban wasteland caused by the Droid Wars, the blue lights flashing in his cheek. John missed their usual easy banter but supposed he deserved it after all that had happened. Last night, he fled the kitchen seconds after Sandra left, shutting himself in his bedroom with his shame and embarrassment, completely unable to look Dorian in the face. He’d curled on the bed, not even changing out of his clothes. Surprisingly, he’d slept fairly well. Guess being publicly humiliated did that to a guy. 

After about an hour of driving, Dorian finally spoke. “I take it we’re not going to the shuttleport.”

“Hate to fly.”

“It’s over a seventeen hour drive to Montana. Nearly eighteen.” 

“I can do it in fifteen. I have before.” 

Dorian paused and then said very precisely, as though he’d looked up the correct expression,“I am sorry about your grandmother, John.”

“My grandma Kennex died ten years ago.” John said. Dorian looked at him, eyebrows raised in surprise. “Sandy came with me to the funeral.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Maldonado’s letting us head out of town until the whole…” John flushed, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the open highway, and swallowed hard before continuing, “Cupid’s Crush thing blows over.”

Dorian fell silent again, his blue processing lights flashing in John’s peripheral vision. Finally, nearly an hour later, he said, “Tell me about your grandmother.”

“We visited her every year, doing the road trip thing as a family. My mom was a city girl but my dad missed the country. Missed the open sky. He planned to retire up there before…” 

“Before he died in the line?” 

John nodded, sucking in a deep breath before he continued, “Anyway, we went up every year until mom got sick. I kept meaning to go up after the Police Academy but…never got the time. Never made the time. Pelham and I used to talk about taking a guy’s trip up there. Go fishing. Never got around to it though.”

“And then…”

“Then she died. Suddenly. Her heart just gave out. My last remaining family member.” 

“Except Sandra.” Dorian said quietly. John jerked the wheel, staring at Dorian in open mouthed astonishment. He swerved back into their lane, his fingers shaking. 

“How did you know that?” John finally asked, when he could find words to express his astonishment. “No one ever guessed before.”

Dorian smiled, “You call her Sandy sometimes—no one else does that. I thought for a while that you might have been romantically involved but I couldn’t make it fit. I’d have heard the rumors, if that were true. It’s the eyes, I think. You have the same eyes. Your father’s eyes.”

“Well, look at Sherlock Drone!” John paused and then shrugged. Dorian wouldn’t tell anyone. “She’s my dad’s daughter from his college girlfriend. They never married. Dad found out about her when I was four. She was eight.”

“Did you spend time with her growing up? She treats you like a kid brother.”

John smiled, “I am her kid brother. She used to come with us on the road trips every summer. My mom thought of her as a daughter. She was really close to our Gram and inherited the house.”

“That’s how she knew to send you here.”

“Yeah, though I can’t figure out why she sent you along. InSyndicate is hardly likely to follow me up to Montana when they could much more easily come after me in the city, if it is me that they want.”

“No doubt Sandra has her reasons.”

“No doubt.” John said, and kept driving. What were his sister and his android up to?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was pretty surprised when John blurted out that his grandma had been dead ten years but that was nothing to my shock at Dorian's deduction. Tomorrow, they spend some time in Montana, featuring a stetson wearing Dorian, just for WeWillSpockYou.


	15. Different Clothing Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorian with a stetson, just for WeWillSpockYou.
> 
> Continued from yesterday's prompt...
> 
> **Note the rating change**

Gram’s house turned out to be a low-slung log cabin, nestled in a clearing near a shimmering lake. Brightly painted wooded rockers lined the wide front porch. They stepped through the red front door into a cozy living room with a large stone fireplace and a wall of plate glass windows with soaring views of the sun dipping below the mountains. 

“The sky looks endless up here.”

“That’s why they call it Big Sky Country, D.” John clapped his shoulder and moved toward the roomy kitchen to put away the supplies he’d picked up in the tiny town they’d passed through twenty miles ago. Dorian knew he should help but he drifted to look out the windows, entranced by the view. After living in LA all his life, he’d never seen so much blue and green in one place. 

“There are four bedrooms upstairs, but, if you like the view that much, we can set up your charging station down here.” John offered and Dorian glanced at him, surprised to see the blush ghosting over John’s cheekbones. Dorian understood enough to know that John was still embarrassed over the Cupid’s Crush incident. What he didn’t yet know was why. Was it due to everyone seeing them? Was he ashamed of being attracted to a droid? He’d tried to process it during the endless drive but human motivation and emotions were still murky and opaque to him. They could feel so much at once. How did they ever sort it all out?

“I’m going to go shower and change.” Dorian sat on the sofa and watched the sunset trail coral and peach and crimson ribbons across the lake. John returned, barefoot, his hair wet and slicked back. He wore faded jeans that molded to his body like a second skin and a forest green t-shirt with holes at the collar and hem. The shirt made his eyes look like moss lit by sunshine. Here, away from the heavy burdens of his past and their rigorous job, John looked ten years younger, happier and carefree. Entranced, Dorian struggled not to stare. Sometimes he forgot how handsome John was. He crossed the room to Dorian and dropped a white Stetson hat on his head with a smile.

“Now you look like a real cowboy, D.” 

John grilled a steak and, at Dorian’s insistence on vegetables, made a small salad and potatoes. He took it outside to the small deck to eat, Dorian trailing behind carrying the olive oil and vinegar for John’s salad. The settled into the comfortable teak porch furniture, battered and worn from many years of use. 

“You must have many memories of this place.”

John smiled softly and nodded. Dorian invited, “Tell me about them.”

For the next hour, as velvety darkness fell and the stars shimmered on above them, John regaled him with funny and sweet stories of his family vacations here. Dorian loved watching him be so animated, so relaxed and different from his usually cranky partner.

“I can’t believe you pushed Captain Maldonado into the lake.”

“I was four! And not at all happy about suddenly having a bossy older sister.”

“When was the last time you were here?”

John drew his brows together and grew pensive, chewing on his lower lip. “I think it was the summer I turned 16. I got my first kiss from Julie Davis right over there. By summer’s end, I’d slept with her and her brother too.” Abruptly, John straightened in his chair, color flooding his face, as he started fussing with the napkins and the plates, shifting to stand.

“Are we ever going to talk about what happened?” Dorian asked quietly, laying his fingers over John’s wrist lightly. John’s pulse hammered against his fingertips. He shut his eyes, drawing a deep breath.

“I apologized!” 

“I’m not sorry, John.” Slowly, John opened his eyes. Their gazes met and locked for a long moment, both frozen with uncertainty about what to do next. Dorian leaned forward and brushed his mouth over John’s lips, tasting him. 

“Dorian…” John moaned, his hands clutching at Dorian’s shoulders. “This is such a bad idea.”

“Shut up and kiss me again.” John froze and Dorian wondered if he’d pushed him too far before he sighed and surrendered. He pulled Dorian close, cupping his cheek, sucking his lower lip. Dorian thrilled to the knowledge that this time—finally—there was nothing and no one there to stop them. 

Acting on instinct and the copious research he’d done, Dorian slipped his hands under the hem of John’s shirt, sliding his palms over John’s flat belly, loving the feel of John’s satiny warm skin against his palms. Just John’s kisses were enough to completely overload his sensory circuits. John arched against him which Dorian took as invitation to stroke his fingers along John’s waistband and then lower to brush over his denim clad bulge. John rocked into his hand, seeking friction and heat. With a sigh, John straddled Dorian’s lap, pressing them together, never breaking their passionate kiss. 

John clutched at Dorian’s shoulders, grinding down on him, moaning his pleasure. He broke their kiss, throwing his head back as he gave himself over to the inferno between them, backlit by the shimmering stars. And Dorian knew, if he were to be decommissioned tomorrow, he’d never regret this moment—the feel of John against him, holding his hips as they rocked together, the intense pleasure of it overwhelming his circuits. 

Unexpectedly, Dorian vibrated all over, shuddering with the force of his own release. John cried out as his hips stuttered against Dorian. He collapsed on top of him, his breathing harsh against Dorian’s neck, his heart hammering against Dorian’s still chest. 

Dorian wrapped his arms around him, hoping that the stubborn detective would have just accepted the passion that lay between them. But, if he knew his John, and Dorian certainly did, he’d panic in the next twenty seconds. As if on cue, John raised his head to look at Dorian, his dark hair tousled and his plush mouth swollen. Dorian watched his pulse hammer in his throat.

“I’m so sorry, Dorian. I…” Dorian pressed a kiss to his mouth and another on his cheek. 

“Hush, John. It was bound to happen sooner or later between us. Can we argue about it tomorrow?”

With a huffy laugh, John nodded and climbed slowly off Dorians’ lap. He grabbed the dishes and disappeared into the kitchen. Within a few moments, he’d retreated upstairs to his bedroom and quietly shut the door. Dorian sighed and plugged himself into his charging unit, settling on the sofa where he would be able to see the sunrise.


	16. During Their Morning Rituals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after…still on their jaunt to Montana...

The next morning, after his long, restless night, John lay in bed, curled on his side, watching the sunrise peek over the mountains as the sky changed from indigo to peach to that amazing perfect blue, nearly the exact color of his…android? Partner? Lover’s eyes?

If he’d known it would come to this, he’d never have pushed that mouthy MX out of his cruiser. Well, okay, he would have still done it but he wouldn’t have accepted a DRN unit as replacement. 

But then he wouldn’t have gotten to meet Dorian…

“And I wouldn’t be in this mess.” John rubbed his eyes, rolling onto his back. Talking to himself was definitely not a good sign. 

Sandra claimed that he and Dorian were special. He doubted his big sister had been matchmaking at the time—though she’d hated Anna so maybe…But no, Sandy couldn’t possibly have anticipated John’s insane attraction to Dorian. Or maybe she could. Sandra did have eyes. There was no denying that Dorian was utterly, devastatingly gorgeous. 

He’d had gorgeous before with Anna and look where that got him. After a while, John rarely even noticed how handsome Dorian was anymore. He’d just sort of adapted to it. But, he was smart, funny, sweet, snarky…Gorgeous with the personality to match. Dorian was a devastating combination of all John liked and wanted in a partner. Except for the whole android part.

Somehow they’d become friends and partners, closer even than he and Martin Pelham had been. Just the thought made him feel disloyal to Pelham but he knew it was true. He and Dorian, in just a few short months, had forged a much stronger bond than he and Pelham had after years together.

And then life after his accident, after Anna, became normal. It probably would have stayed that way if it weren’t for the fantasies about he and Dorian being more than partners, more than friends… But they were just fantasies, a harmless fancy, something to keep him warm at night and soothe him after his awful nightmares…

And then he’d gotten a good dose of Cupid’s Crush and all hell broke loose. He slammed the pillow over his face. What had Sandra been thinking, sending them away together like this? How was he supposed to withstand the temptation of his gorgeous partner with nothing to distract him?

All through the long car ride here, John told himself that he wouldn’t act on this ridiculous infatuation. He was over 40—far past time to grow up. Then, he’d ended up making out with Dorian on the deck, coming in his pants like a teenager. He hadn’t been that fast off the mark since Julie Davis slipped her hands down his pants when he was fifteen. How would he ever get up and face Dorian after that humiliating performance? 

“Maybe I can just lay here and die.”

Dorian slammed into the room then, carrying a breakfast tray. “Morning, sunshine! It’s a beautiful day.”

Startled, John sat up in the bed, clutching the sheet to his chest. Dorian put the tray down on the bed, over John’s lap, neatly pinning him in place. There were perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, lightly buttered toast, and a small bowl with chunks of cantaloupe and watermelon. All John had eyes for was the rich smelling black coffee. He picked up the mug and took a generous swig. His little coffee warmer made it perfectly for him.

Dorian sat on the bed and handed John a fork. “Do you know what I think being human means?”

John eyed him warily, eating his breakfast. “That sounds like a heavy conversation to have this early in the morning.”

“I think it means having the experiences that make us human as well as getting to enjoy the emotions that go along with the actual event.”

“Okay.” John allowed cautiously, taking another sip of his coffee. 

“Isn’t sex just part of adult life? Just another experience?”

John inhaled sharply, “I see we went with the direct approach. Listen, Dorian…”

Dorian spoke over him, “Why shouldn’t I get to choose my sexual partner?”

“Who said you couldn’t?” John felt he might have lost the thread of this conversation along the way. 

“You.”

“I didn’t say that. I don’t even think it. I just…” John raked his fingers through his hair. “Dorian, this is a tricky area for us—born humans—to navigate. Can you even give consent? I don’t want to treat you like some sort of sexbot.”

“I’m not a sexbot. I’m a DRN. I have free will and a synthetic soul. You saw the MXs. I was designed for this, John.” Dorian leaned closer. With a rush of heat, John remembered the moment that Dorian had proven that he was very different from the MX Ken dolls. Despite himself, John swayed toward him, his eyes dropping to Dorian’s full lips. He leaned back, placing a hand on Dorian’s still chest. John was suddenly very aware that he’d chosen to sleep in the nude last night and all that separated him and his fantasy lover was a rather thin sheet and a breakfast tray.

“And even if we assume you can give consent, you and I work together. That doesn’t usually mix well.”

“Are you planning to make an announcement at the station house?” Dorian moved the nearly empty breakfast tray to the floor and crawled back onto the bed. 

John flushed, “Already did that.”

“We don’t have to tell anyone what we choose to do together.” Dorian cupped John’s face in his hands and brushed his lips over John’s gently. Just as John’s eyes drifted shut, he stared at Dorian’s amazingly beautiful eyes and wondered why he’d thought he’d ever be able to resist him.


	17. Spooning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***Note the rating change***

As the sun rose on their second to last day of the their Montana getaway, Dorian lay on his side, his head propped on his arm, watching John sleep. He slept on his side and stomach, his arms under the pillow, his dark hair tousled and several days stubble shadowing his cheeks. John liked to burrow under the covers, except he wanted his feet out most of the time. And he had to be touching Dorian, even in sleep. 

Who would have ever thought that John Kennex was a cuddler? Just one of the many surprises Dorian had enjoyed this week. 

He brushed kisses over John’s shoulder blades causing John to shift in his sleep. He backed into Dorian, who wrapped an arm around him, snuggling him close. John sighed, sliding deeper under the covers. Dorian tucked the blankets around him, ensuring John was safely shielded from the chilly morning air. 

Despite knowing he’d physically exhausted his human with the endless lovemaking they’d enjoyed all week, Dorian rolled his own hips against John, already ready to go again. John slept on. He’d worn John out. He should let him sleep. But, once awakened, Dorian’s hunger and need for John just continued to grow. He wanted him more now that he had him than he had when John was just his late night, charging station fantasy. Still asleep, John wiggled again, pressing closer to Dorian, a soft moan escaping him.

It was the moan that shattered Dorian’s self-control. 

Dorian slipped his hands under the covers and caressed John’s hips, sliding his hand around to stroke John’s already erect cock. His own cock nudged against John’s bottom, seeking entrance. Since he’d dropped off to sleep nearly immediately after their last bout of lovemaking in the pre-dawn hours, John was still slick, still ready for Dorian. He thrust deep into John’s wet, tight heat, pressing kisses to his shoulder and neck, never stopping his rhythmic strokes on John’s cock. John jolted to wakefulness, his hips already finding the unique rhythm that they shared. 

“Getting started without me, D?” John rasped, reaching back to grip Dorian’s hip, pulling him closer.

“You were the one seducing me in your sleep.”

“Horny android.” John moaned as Dorian trailed his fingers over the head of John’s cock, a light, circular caress, in counterpoint to his shallow thrusts. After just a few days together, Dorian knew exactly how to satisfy John, to wring little moans and cries from him, to bring him the most shattering pleasure. And he also knew how to draw it out, take John to the edge of sanity before finally granting him release. John had taught him well by doing all the same things to him.

“Faster, D, please.” John groaned, his head falling back to rest on Dorian’s shoulder, as Dorian teased him. Instead, Dorian set his fingers and cock to vibrate, low pulses against John’s most sensitive spots. John’s eyes opened wide at this new trick as Dorian continued, subtly increasing the vibrations as he brushed John’s prostate inside and out. John gasped and writhed, clutching at the sheets, turning his head to capture Dorian’s lips as he spurted over Dorian’s hands. 

As John clamped down on Dorian, his own wave of endless pleasure cascaded over him, overwhelming his circuits, short-circuiting his thoughts and letting him just float in the passion that they created between them.


	18. Doing Something Together

“You promised me a real date.” Dorian complained.

“And I will take you on a date, when we get back to the city. Whatever you want. Now, come on, take off those jeans.” John pressed against Dorian, arching his hips into him, nibbling his neck just the way he knew Dorian liked. “If you get naked, we can go swimming again. You liked that.”

“You just want another underwater blow job.” While it was true that he would love for D to repeat one of the most intense sexual experiences of his life, Dorian just didn’t realize how incredibly hot he looked dripping wet, water droplets cascading down that perfect chest…John was so deep in his mouth-watering fantasy he almost didn’t catch Dorian’s next comment. “I want to go to the Double D Ranch. It’s 16.4 miles from here, northeast.”

“The what now?” 

“It’s a dude ranch. I want to go horseback riding.”

“After all the sex we’ve had this week, you want to go horseback riding now? You couldn’t have mentioned this earlier?” John sucked on Dorian’s earlobe, skimming his hands down his sides and sliding his fingers under the waistband of his jeans. The stubborn android remained unmoved. “You just want an excuse to wear your cowboy hat.”

“Maybe.” Dorian smiled at John. He sighed. He gave into that smile way too easily. 

“Fine. You can go ride a horse. I’ll just watch. Maybe take some pictures when you fall off.” John dressed and headed for the car to find Dorian already seated in the driver’s seat. “Who said you could drive?”

“You don’t know where we’re going.” 

Grumbling, John got in. He’d never admit it to Dorian but he sometimes liked being the passenger. It gave him an excuse to watch Dorian’s capable hands. After John surrendered to Dorian on their first morning here in Montana, they’d done little but laze around the house, making love whenever the mood struck, which was often. Today was their last day and John wondered how their blossoming relationship would change when they got home to the city. Dorian could live with him, of course, but still…to pretend there weren’t many challenges to an android/human relationship…

“You think too much, John Kennex.” Dorian’s voice broke into his thoughts. “You get that adorable little worry line over your nose.”

John flushed and looked out the window, taking in their surroundings. They were heading toward a snow capped mountain, the silvery lakes like clear mirrors reflecting the cerulean sky. John pointed out a rainbow to Dorian just to see him smile again.

After about twenty minutes, they pulled through a large, wrought iron gate with two stylized, interconnected D’s woven into the design. Dorian pulled up to a yellow ranch house with red shutters dotted with white polka dots. If Hollywood set designers had to design a perfect country house, they would come here to take notes. All that was missing was a steaming, freshly baked pie in the window. They climbed from the vehicle as a short man in the biggest cowboy hat John had ever seen strolled down the porch steps. 

“You folks have an appointment?” 

“No, we’d just…” John started but Dorian cut over him. “Yes, at 10:30. Horseback riding.”

“Dorian Kennex?” John jolted as Dorian turned toward him, whispering, “I don’t have a last name, John.”

John swallowed and nodded, trying to still his racing heart at the sound of his last name attached to Dorian. Girls in middle school combined their names with the last name of the boys they liked. And Dorian didn’t have a last name so it made sense to use his. Why did it affect him so deeply now? Still a bit dazed, John wandered behind Dorian and the ranch hand over to the pasture where a chestnut mare pranced, her coat gleaming in the sun. 

“Isn’t she a beauty?” The ranch hand asked. John cocked his head, eyeing the horse. He didn’t see it—it just looked like a horse to him--and turned to Dorian. His snarky comment died on his lips as he watched Dorian’s expression of wonder and pure excitement. Looked like his droid liked horses. Who knew?

The ranch hand, who introduced himself as Buddy, helped Dorian onto the horse and led him around the pasture as John snapped pictures. Even John, by no means a horse expert, knew that Dorian had a seat like a sack of potatoes and that this horse ride was more like a kid’s pony show. But, the android beamed with pride the whole time, happy to just to be near a horse. On one pass around the small show ring, Dorian carefully lifted one hand from where he’d been clutching the saddle and gave John a thumbs up. John smiled as he returned it, happy for Dorian.

_Love him so much._ John nearly dropped his smartphone after the realization crossed his mind. His first instinct was to deny it but then he realized the rightness of it, the absolute truth of it. He, John Kennex, absolutely adored his android. 

_Damn it._


	19. In Formal Wear/Dancing (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve combined the “In Formal Wear” and “Dancing” prompts here. Tomorrow will be part two of this.

_A few weeks after they return from Montana…_

“What are you up to, Detective Stahl?” Dorian asked as he dropped into the seat next to her workstation. John remained in the break room, inhaling a stack of powdered doughnuts. 

“It’s Valerie.” She favored Dorian with a warm smile. “I’m editing the video tribute to the Police Ball, since the criminals around here seem to have gone on vacation.”

“It has been quiet, hasn’t it? It’s eerie.” Richard Paul leaned his hip against Valerie’s desk, slurping his morning coffee. 

“Anyway, Dorian, it’s the 15th anniversary of the ball this year…”

“It started after the Droid Wars, right?”

Richard nodded. “Yep, way to raise money for the Widows and Orphans fund. No one expected it to be a popular as it is.”

“Yeah, who would’ve thought dancing with a policeman would be so popular?” Valerie laughed.

“So people buy tickets to dance with cops…” Dorian said. 

“Yep, raises a ton of money every year.” Richard agreed.

“I can’t really imagine John doing that.”

Valerie glanced at Richard who grinned back at her. “We should show him.”

Valerie bit her lip, “John will kill us.”

“Worth it though.” 

After a few seconds deliberation, Valerie smiled at Dorian, queued up a video feed, and said, “Watch this.”

A slightly younger John, dressed in a perfectly cut tuxedo, twirled around the dance floor with a matronly older woman. She smiled up at John who—shockingly--returned it. As the song ended, he carefully dipped her and brought her back up, her blue-white hair catching the lights. She smiled at John and patted his cheek. John escorted her out of the frame and, in the background, Dorian caught sight of Captain Maldonado having her toes trampled by a heavy-set older man as Richard did an awkward two-step with a girl barely old enough to drive. 

Seconds later, John returned to the screen with a dark haired woman in a floaty red dress. He swept her into his arms and took the floor. Dorian watched, mesmerized by John’s graceful moves. John could really dance. _How had Dorian not known this?_ He could barely take his eyes off of John, dancing so gracefully and self-assuredly. What he wouldn’t give to dance like that with John, even once. 

“I forgot he met her there.” Valerie murmured. 

“Makes sense. Easy meet up for a honeypot.” Richard responded.

“We don’t know that she was working for them…”

“Val, come on, he loses his leg in an alley—nearly dies—and she never shows up. Never once checks in on him at the hospital. Just disappeared without a trace. What else could it be?”

“I saw them together. She certainly seemed to love him.”

“That’s what a honeypot does, Val. It was an act. Besides, Anna was a three percent.”

“That’s Anna?” Dorian demanded, peering more closely at the woman in the red dress as she and John waltzed around the dance floor.

‘What’s a three percent?” Valerie ignored Dorian’s question.

“I have this theory that three percent of the world are hideously ugly, real genetic losers—that’s the bottom three percent. Then there is the top three percent—those are the beautiful people, the ones that won the genetic lottery--that are stunningly gorgeous—holding aside Chromes and Droids here, ok? And then the rest—the other 94%—are somewhere in the middle. Anna was a top three percent. Maybe top one percent. John should have known…”

“Should have known what?” John asked, coming up behind Richard, holding a half-eaten cinnamon doughnut. Dorian knew it was at least the second one from the crumbs all down John’s black shirt. John froze when he saw the video feed, his eyes widening. Valerie killed the screen and turned to John.

“We were just chatting about the anniversary of the Police Ball. You going this year?”

“Gotta go grab some more coffee.” John fled. Valerie and Richard looked at Dorian.

“I’ll go take care of him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Almost Human wiki says that John and Anna met in a car accident but I’ve obviously taken some liberties here.


	20. In Formal Wear/Dancing (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve combined the “In Formal Wear” and “Dancing” prompts here. Yesterday’s entry was part one.

Dorian tried to process what he’d just seen on the video. Surprisingly, he felt no jealousy. In an odd way, he felt gratitude for Anna. If things had gone just slightly differently, Dorian would still be in his plastic coffin in Rudy’s workshop and never even have met John. 

He’d known about Anna after all, if not the details about where and how John met her. He knew John’s feelings for her had been genuine, no matter what the story had been on her side. And, from Valerie and Richard’s conversation, they didn’t know that John saw her in the alley that fateful day.

If, in fact, John had seen her in the alley and it wasn’t something his subconscious manufactured under pressure from that awful Recollectionist…

And, even if she had been there, none of them knew the _why_ of it…

Dorian paused in the hallway. Where would his little runner go? Whenever hit with unexpected emotions, John hid, giving himself time to process, like an animal licking his wounds. He considered leaving John with his thoughts but, after what he’d seen, Dorian selfishly wanted to hold him. 

Dorian headed down to the evidence locker, unerringly walking toward the small rooms in the back where evidence could be examined and analyzed, often by opposing counsel looking for any defense for their scumbag clientele. The last cubicle, closest to the wall, stood dark but the privacy screens fogged the glass. He laid his palm on the entrance reader and slipped in the door. 

John rested his hip against the table, his head bowed, staring at something he was playing with in his hands. In the low light, Dorian caught a glint of silver chain. The medal Anna gave him. Dorian leaned against the glass wall, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for John to speak first.

“Richard’s right. I was such a fool.” John said, his voice low and raspy. Dorian said nothing, waiting for John to go on, knowing he needed to get it out. “I thought she loved me, you know?”

“You don’t know that she didn’t.” 

“She threw a grenade at me. Pretty sure that means she didn’t.” John shrugged. “We met at the benefit. I hated going to those. Pelham and I always bet on who could make the most money.”

“Because it has to be a competition, right?” Dorian crossed the room and sat next to John, not quite touching but close enough to feel his warmth.

John huffed out a laugh. “Of course. We each even secretly took dancing lessons so we could beat the other. He won that year but I thought I’d gotten the real prize—Anna’s contact info.” 

“So, you started dating?” Dorian still didn’t feel any jealousy. After all, he knew the ending. He was the one sitting next to John in this darkened evidence room.

“Yep. She loved noodles, kung fu movies… I thought she was the perfect match. Of course, she was the perfect match because she’d been trained to be.”

“Maybe.” Dorian shrugged. John glanced at him, his brow furrowed. “I’m not defending her, John. I don’t know what really happened. Neither do you. She could have been sent by them and fell in love with you in the time you were together. They could have manipulated her into doing it. Or she could be the evil supervillian you fear.”

“I just wish I knew. I wish I had the answers.” 

“I feel the same way about Nigel Vaughn. But I don’t know and, unless something changes, I won’t.” Dorian put an arm around John, feeling the stiff set of his shoulders. After a few seconds hesitation, John relaxed, resting his forehead on Dorian’s shoulder. Dorian pulled him close, gathering him into his arms, wordlessly trying to offer comfort. They sat that way for a few moments, John still idly fingering the medal.

“Do you know the tradition of a St. Christopher’s medal?” 

“It’s about keeping you safe, isn’t it? Granting you protection?”

“I have a few of them.” John touched the necklace he always wore with a faint smile. “My mom gave this one to my dad when I was born.” 

Dorian smiled. He’d long known that his John was sentimental at heart, under that grouchy, gruff exterior. 

John indicated the silver medal he still held in his hand. “Anna gave me this one. She said she wanted to keep the person she loved most safe.” 

“It’s a nice thought. Sweet.” 

John stood and slid the chain over Dorian’s head. He tucked the silver medal under Dorian’s shirt before pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You’re a cop. You need one too.” 

“I love you too, John.” Dorian whispered before pulling him close for deep kiss.


	21. Cooking/Baking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today’s entry is a truly diabetes inducing level of sweet. Ella is the baby John walked the floor with in the entry on day eleven.

Dorian returned from the store to a disaster area. Cracked eggs littered the counter, bowls piled in the sink… How had Ella and John managed to get chocolate frosting on the ceiling? They’d been making double chocolate cupcakes for four year old Ella’s end-of-the-school year party and his two little chocoholics ran out of eggs. He’d done the store run. He’d only been gone twenty minutes. How could they have destroyed the kitchen so quickly?

And where were they now? 

Dorian listened and heard his favorite sound in the world—Ella giggling. He followed the smeary chocolate fingerprints down the hall to her bedroom door and peeked in. And, before they spotted him, snapped about a dozen holographs to remember this moment. And use as blackmail later. 

At Ella’s tiny white table, John sat, wrapped in a brilliant fuchsia feather boa. A white hat with peacock feathers sat jauntily on his head. In his large hands, he cradled one of her little pink flowered teacups. Chocolate crumbs littered the table. 

The other guests at their impromptu tea party included a stuffed bear that Ella inexplicably called Oliver as well as her stuffed cat Miss Peaches. For the occasion, Ella had donned her sparkly princess fairy costume from Halloween. A tiara, crookedly perched on her mop of dark curls, completed the look. Her lips and cheeks were covered with chocolate. She’d never go down for her nap now. 

She giggled up at John as he told her one of his creative stories. John loved to spin far-fetched tales of adventure and drama for their little girl. 

“No, Papa! Pirates don’t have tea parties!” Ella shook her head. 

“Yes, they do, baby! Pirates love tea parties. You want to know what the dread pirate Robinson had for tea?”

“Pickle sandwiches.” Ella yelled, laughing again, and then caught sight of Dorian. “Daddy! Come have tea with us.”

Dorian crossed the room and took the chair next to Miss Peaches. John tossed a purple feather boa around his neck and slapped a floppy lavender hat trimmed with lilacs on his head before leaning over to give him a sticky kiss on his cheek. Ella carefully poured him a cup of tea—really chocolate milk. Dorian smiled at his little family and said, “You know what I heard pirates have for tea? Cannonball stew!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This can also be read as another epilogue to my story, Temporal Paradox. In that story, John Kennex is revealed to be Bones’ great (times five) grandfather and Ella is revealed to Bones’ great (times four) grandmother.


	22. In battle, side by side

As the firefight with the InSyndicate blazed around them, John realized that he, Richard, and Valerie were going to die in this alley. The other side had them trapped like rats. Facing the InSyndicate’s superior fire power, the human cops would be lucky to last more than the next few moments. Val fired at the advancing InSyndicate members and took a shot directly to the side of her chest. John glimpsed the bones of her rib cage before he looked away, fighting nausea. 

Her MX leaned over her, evaluating her injuries. “It’s bad, Max.” Valerie said, clutching at the MX’s hand. According to his programing, the MX should have heartlessly abandoned her to her fate. John braced himself to pull Valerie into his lap. No one should have to die alone. Instead, “Max” let out an unearthly keening cry and collapsed on her chest. She patted his shoulders awkwardly, her eyes already glassy from pain and blood loss. 

If he lived to be 100, which wasn’t looking too likely at the moment, John would never forget the MX’s agonized wail when he saw Valerie’s injuries. As Valerie struggled to suck air into her damaged lungs, the MX sobbed in a high pitched mechanical screech, cradling her protectively against him as he put pressure on the wound. Inadvertently, the MX startled the InSyndicate members so badly that they paused, glancing around, unsure what the horrendous noise was. A tiny advantage but just what the cops needed to escape. Dorian carried Valerie, the still keening MX trailing behind, as they fled out of the alleyway.

They’d passed her to the paramedics as quickly as they could but John knew without even looking at Dorian that it was bad. They followed to the hospital. After Richard and John were treated for their minor injuries, they drifted into the waiting room where Sandra sat, resting her head on her clasped hands, her elbows propped on her knees. Her wedding ring glinted in the dim light. John ached for her. Her wife hovered between life and death and none of them could help at all. He sat next to her and they clasped hands, the way they’d often done at Gram’s house as kids. 

“What’s with the MX?” Richard said, gesturing toward the corner. Valerie’s MX lay on the floor, curled in a ball, rocking gently. Dorian made his way over to him, kneeling next to him but he seemed unreachable.

“That shouldn’t be possible, should it?” Richard glanced at John who shook his head. “I know Dorian was made to feel but…”

“MXs were supposed to be the solution to that.” John confirmed.

Sandra spoke, her voice horse and raw. “A flaw in the programming, possibly. Maybe it’s just something that develops from the way we interact with technology.”

“Are you saying that an MX can learn to feel?” Richard asked, his eyebrows raised.

“What else do you call that, man?” John gestured to the MX, still huddled in a corner, Dorian awkwardly patting his shoulder.

“Valerie treated him with kindness and compassion.” John said. “Is it so hard to believe that he’d develop an attachment to her?”

“She befriended him.” Sandra nodded. “And this is the result.”

“What will happen to him?” John asked.

Sandra glanced at Dorian and then looked away, fiddling with her wedding band. “The DRNs were decommissioned for less. I can’t imagine this will end well at the review board.” 

“He’ll be decommissioned just because he felt emotion? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“No one on the board cares about fair. If your cell phone started wailing like that or acting angry or jealous when you used the toaster, what would you do?” Sandra held up a hand. “I’m not saying it’s right. I’m saying that’s their attitude. Technology is property, a tool for us to use, nothing more.”

John glanced at Dorian who looked away. They’d been partners for nearly a year, lovers for less than six months. If anyone at the department—other than Sandra and Val who already knew---figured out that they’d developed an “unnatural attachment” Dorian would be decommissioned and John would be busted down to traffic cop before they could blink. He got a cup of coffee, sitting, twirling the paper cup in his fingers until it had grown stone cold, as he faced the decision that he had to make, for the both of them.


	23. Arguing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation from yesterday's prompt.

After they found out that Valerie survived the surgery, though she still had a long recovery in front of her, and Sandra wept tears of relief on John’s shoulder, Dorian and John wordlessly walked out to their cruiser. They’d been at the hospital so long that it was nearly dawn of the next day, the eastern sky washed with shades of pewter, pearl, and gray. John drove on autopilot, trying to find the words for what he needed to say.

“Why are we at Rudy’s?”

“Dorian,” John swallowed hard, past the jagged lump lodged in his throat. If he could just make it through the next few minutes without crying... “I think it’s best if…”

“Drive us home, John.”

John shook his head, staring resolutely out the windshield, gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. They reminded him of the glimpse of Valerie’s rib cage he’d gotten. He shut his eyes, steeling himself for what he had to say. “I think it’s best if we don’t see each other any more. It’s not you, it’s me. We’ll still be partners, of course…unless you’d rather select someone else.”

“I don’t understand. I love you. I know you love me…”

John shook his head, reminding himself that he was being cruel to be kind, saving them from a terrible fate. He couldn’t let Dorian’s eyes go black again, to see that mischievous glint dim from his beautiful turquoise eyes. Even though he felt like his insides had been scooped out with a melon baller, he had to do this, for Dorian’s sake. “No, Dorian. I was wrong about that. I don’t.”

“You’re lying.” Dorian said instantly, flatly.

“Sometimes humans fall out of love. It happens, D.”

“This is because of that MX today and what Sandra said. You’re just scared.” 

“I’m not scared, Dorian. I’m…” John swallowed hard again and took a deep breath. “I’m just not interested in you anymore.”

“I can tell when you’re lying, John Reginald Kennex. Do you know what the biological markers of liars are? Because you’re displaying them. Increased blood pressure, rapid heart rate, changes in sweat patterns…”

“Stop scanning me right now!” 

“Stop lying to me.”

John rested his forehead on the steering wheel. It just figured his android boyfriend would refuse to allow him to break up with him. “Dorian, did you even listen to Sandra today? That MX is in love with Valerie and they’re going to decommission him, just for that. What do you think will happen to us if…”

“Are you ashamed of me, John?”

John raised his head. “Dorian, do you remember that case, few months back, with that sexbot with the human DNA?”

“Vanessa.” 

“How do you think I’d feel having to watch you go through the same thing? It would kill me, Dorian. I couldn’t survive it.” John closed his eyes as he voiced his worst nightmare. “Please don’t ask it of me.”

“So you’d rather be apart and miserable than run the risk…”

“Yes.” John nodded and looked away. “That’s why I think it’d be best if you stayed with Rudy for a while.”

Dorian got out of the car and slammed the door. Before he walked away, he leaned down and yelled, loud enough for John to hear him through the glass, “I never figured you for a coward, John Kennex.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And more to come tomorrow...


	24. On one of their birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt our angst-fest for some birthday fun…
> 
> According to his driver's permit, John Kennex turns 7 years old tomorrow. Coincidentally, our favorite Kiwi actor turns 41. Since it's already the 7th of June in New Zealand…here we have today's entry...

“I don’t have a birthday.” Dorian pointed out to John, one long shift in mid-May, as they stared a blank brick wall, waiting for anything interesting to happen on this endless stakeout. 

“Just pick a day then.” 

“June 7th.” 

“You can’t pick my birthday! Pick any other day.” John argued, wondering how the droid knew when his birthday was.

“No, that way we can celebrate together.” Dorian insisted with a happy smile. 

“Goody.” John snarked. “I don’t celebrate.”

“From what I understand, there are certain rituals involving cake, candles, and balloons that must be followed. There’s something about a donkey and a pin that I don’t…”

John sighed. When did a simple stakeout become an archeological dig as he explained human customs to a curious android? “It’s a game. And all that stuff—that’s just for kids. Adults—most adults—don’t celebrate their birthdays.”

Dorian glanced out the window, his blue disco lights flashing as he considered. “Why not?” 

“Because it’s just another reminder that we’re getting older.”

“You’ll be 41 this year. That’s not that old. It’s middle aged.” 

“Jeez, Dorian.” John shook his head. “Thanks.”

* * *

They spent the rest of May running down empty InSyndicate leads and trying to halt the creeping spread of The Bends through the city. Crime and creative ways to break the law just kept running at them like the tide. John struggled to keep his head above water most days. He had no time to think of his impending big day and wouldn’t have cared if had.

On the night of his birthday, John just wanted to grab some take-out noodles and go home to watch a game. Instead, Dorian talked him into letting him drive and they ended up outside a kid’s restaurant with a mangy looking grey mouse wearing a luridly purple shirt for a logo.

“Why are we at Chuck E. Cheese?” John demanded, sure his bleary eyes were deceiving him.

“It’s our birthday, John.” Dorian said, as he smoothly got out of the car. John considered driving home but Dorian took the keys with him. _Tricky bastard android._ John stomped into the loud, bright, crowded hellhole, overrun by about a thousand rug rats. Where the hell had Dorian gone? He wandered through, glancing at some of the old time video games from his youth. He smiled as he remembered trying to beat his dad at Frogger and PacMan. His dad was a whiz on the old school games. 

He drifted near the big stage, with the straggly, sad looking anamatronic figures still and blessedly quiet. He turned to survey the room and nearly toppled into the drum kit when what looked like the entire precinct yelled, “Surprise!”

Sandra pulled him upright and slapped a birthday crown on his head, laughing. “Come have some pizza. Guess what? This place serves beer!” 

They ate appallingly bad pizza and drained pitcher after pitcher of beer. He and Dorian, as the birthday boys, played out all their free tokens. John crushed him at Mario Kart but Dorian was way better at skeeball. They closed the place down and John climbed into the car, still laughing. 

“Did you have fun, John?” Dorian leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“Thanks, D. Happy birthday, man.” 

Later that night, as Dorian, still wearing his pointed party hat and nothing else, rode him to a blinding climax, John thought that turning 41 might not be so bad after all.


	25. Making Up Afterwards/Gazing Into Each Other's Eyes (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After our break for a John Kennex birthday bash, today we have our two heroes making up from their argument the other day…
> 
> As a refresher, Valerie Stahl was injured and John broke up with Dorian...

_Damn, he missed his android with every breath._

When had he become so dependent on Dorian? So accustomed to his constant presence that the very air seemed sucked out of his apartment? After dropping Dorian at Rudy’s, John slept on the sofa for two nights, not able to face the cold, vast expanse of his bed, alone. Anna used to travel for work and John enjoyed the nights she was gone, unfurling like a starfish in comfort. How had this intense bond happened so fast, become so deep, between him and Dorian?

It was for the best. Better that they make a clean break now before the department did it for them. _It’ll get easier,_ he promised himself, but he knew he was lying.

After visiting his still very groggy sister-in-law at the hospital, John decided to go visit Rudy. It was late afternoon, near dusk when he made his way down the stairs to Rudy’s lair to find the android and the scientist busy playing cards. Both glanced up at his approach. Dorian immediately looked back down at the cards in his hands as John sucked in a breath, bracing himself to see his…partner. 

Dorian was just his partner now. 

He closed his eyes against the images that poured through his mind like snapshots—Dorian making dinner in his kitchen, laughing together in the squad car, the tiny, needy sounds Dorian made when he took John to bed…

John sat in the third chair at the tiny table. “Who’s winning?”

“I am.” Rudy said, beaming with pride. “Seven.”

“Go fish.” Dorian said, listlessly, despite the seven of hearts John saw in his hand. 

“I went to see Valerie. She’s doing well, better than we expected.”

“I am glad to hear Detective Stahl is well. She’s very kind.” Dorian commented, his eyes glued to his cards like they held the secrets of the universe.

“How are…” John started.

“Do we have a case, Detective Kennex?” Dorian asked in a flat, toneless voice, sounding for all the world like the MX he wasn’t. 

“No, I just stopped by…”

“A social call. How nice. He must be here to visit you, Rudy. He’d never come just to visit a machine.” Dorian threw his cards on the table, stood and kicked his chair back. Without looking at John, he walked toward the back room of Rudy’s lab. 

Rudy glanced between them and then leaned over to whisper conspiratorially to John, “He’s got a full charge but he’s been off all day. Very grumpy.”

“I think I know why, Rudy.” John patted his arm and handed him some credits. “Could you give us a few? Go get a cup of coffee on me.”

Rudy made himself scarce and John walked into the back room of the lab. Dorian stood by the plastic wrapped androids there, his arms wrapped around himself, his head bowed. John clasped his shoulders but Dorian shrugged him off, shifting away.

“Please don’t touch me, Detective Kennex.”

“Dorian, please…” At that Dorian turned around and when John saw the misery and heartache in his eyes, it nearly brought him to his knees. He’d put that hurt there, even though he knew it was for the best, knew that his sacrifice would protect them. John wanted nothing more than to gather Dorian close and soothe the hurt away.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think, being stuck here with Rudy all weekend. I know that you think you’re being all noble. But I really think this is because I’m a synthetic.”

“Yes, exactly. Dorian, they own you. You think I could bear it if they took you away from me?”

“Because you were born human, you know best.”

“I’m trying to save you from a terrible fate.”

“What if I think that being without you is a terrible fate? What if I’d rather be decommissioned on the spot than be without you?” John shut his eyes and shook his head. “But you won’t let me make that choice, will you, John? You made it for the both of us.”

Dorian started to push past him but John grabbed his arm. “I’m not worth that, D.”

In answer, Dorian grabbed the back of John’s neck, pulling his mouth to his in a passionate, heated kiss. John’s resolve shattered under the onslaught of Dorian’s kiss, the feel of Dorian against him, wrapped around him. Even though he knew it was a terrible idea, a horrendous risk, he simply kissed him back, clutching at the android’s shoulders. _He’d missed him so much._

They broke apart, John still breathing hard. He met Dorian’s eyes, lost in the endless turquoise depths. The droid leaned forward to whisper, “Take me home, John.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...


	26. Making Up Afterwards/Gazing Into Each Other's Eyes (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And finally, we have our happy ending...

_“Take me home, John.”_

Against his better judgment, John clasped hands with Dorian, pulling him outside to the cruiser. No doubt they’d argue more tomorrow as their disagreement wasn’t really solved. But, for tonight, John wanted Dorian, needed the feel of his lover against him, ached to hold his mate in his arms. _What would one more night matter?_

He drove them home in silence and they walked to the door, holding hands. After they entered the apartment, Dorian crowded John against the wall, holding him still with only his hips pressed against his. He gently brushed his lips over John’s mouth, once and then again. Then he straightened, his beautiful turquoise eyes locked on John’s face.

“Now, John, we’re going to get this straight, ok?” Dorian punctuated his words by palming John’s hardening cock through his pants. 

“Can’t we talk later, baby?” John panted as Dorian’s talented fingers teased him. He reached for Dorian, pulling him flush against him. John rocked against him before kissing him deeply. Dorian lifted his head, breaking their kiss. 

“Listen to me, John Reginald Kennex. I love you. And if I want to take that risk, than you’re going to let me do it, okay?” Dorian squeezed lightly then rubbed slow, rhythmic strokes up and down John’s cock. “Say yes, John.”

“Yes, John.” John panted, needy and desperate already. How could Dorian always shatter his self-control so quickly, so easily, so completely?

“Naughty little thing.” Dorian spun him around and swatted his ass through his jeans, just hard enough to sting. John’s cock hardened further at the droid’s rough manhandling and domineering ways. 

“Bossy android bastard.” John moaned as he arched back into Dorian. In response, he pulled John’s arms above him, one strong hand bracketing his wrists, holding him still, his cheek pressed against the wall. John whimpered, as Dorian shoved his legs apart. The droid’s nimble fingers reached around to unbutton his jeans, pushing them down roughly. Dorian slipped his fingers into John’s pants, stroking him to madness, John rocking against his hand. John let his head fall back against Dorian’s shoulder as the droid mouthed his way down John’s neck to nip at his collarbone before running his tongue over John’s dragon tattoo, never stopping his clever maneuvers with his talented fingers. Just as John would have crested into orgasm, Dorian pushed away.

“What are you stopping for?” John demanded, grumpily.

“I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson quite yet.”

He pulled John down the hallway to his bedroom and stripped him of his clothes before shoving him down on the bed. John shuddered, feeling vulnerable, naked and exposed, and made up for it by giving Dorian a cocky grin. The droid raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

“John, there are two of us in this relationship. You don’t get to make unilateral decisions for us.” Dorian knelt on the floor of the bedroom, still fully clothed, and shoved John’s knees apart. 

“Unilateral, huh? That’s a pretty big word…” John groaned and flopped back onto his elbows as Dorian bent to suck just the head of his cock into his mouth. The android mouthed his way up and down the shaft several times, humming with pleasure. John rocked up, increasingly desperate and needy, clutching Dorian’s shoulders as he writhed against him. 

“You will talk to me, like an adult, when we have to make decisions that affect us and not act like a grumpy, know-it-all, tin-pot dictator.” Dorian lectured as John panted on the bed. “Say yes, John.”

“Yes, John.” He whispered obediently and felt Dorian chuckle as he sucked him deep again. Dorian worshipped his cock, deep throating him, clenching around him. He was so talented at this—far more talented than a human lover could be. Just as John felt his balls tighten and thrust up to find his release, Dorian stilled John’s hips with his big, strong hands and pulled off with an obscene pop.

“What now?” John said, cranky and strung out from being denied the pleasure he so desperately wanted.

“And another thing….” Dorian said as he stripped off his own clothes and reached for the lubricant on the bedside table. He smoothed it over the massive, generous length of himself and reached down to brush against John’s opening. Tenderly, he prepared John and then knelt on the bed, his big hands supporting John’s bottom, spreading him wide for his invasion. John wrapped his legs around Dorian’s hips, wiggling, trying to impale himself on that glorious cock. Just as Dorian pressed against his entrance, he whispered to John, “You are mine…mine…mine.”

It only took a few deep, pounding thrusts before they shook together from the intense force of their release. John met Dorian’s eyes and whispered, “Yes, Dorian.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow, we learn what happened to Max...


	27. Doing something ridiculous, sweet, and hot (Part One of Three)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is thanks to Judas who wanted to know what happened to the MX.

“Dorian, why is there an MX in the back seat of the car?” John asked, in what he hoped was a reasonable, patient tone. They’d just reconciled the night before so John hadn’t gotten much rest and he knew Dorian was not at maximum charge. No need to have an argument this early in the day. They’d gotten to the precinct in time for roll call and that was the best that could be said about their day so far. John bent down to look in the car and said, as kindly as he could to the MX, “You lost, buddy?”

“Negative, sir. DRN-0167 agreed to take me to Detective Stahl.”

“Max?” John breathed, his jaw dropping open in shock. He’d assumed that the malfunctioning MX would have already met a crushing end by now. He stood, glaring at Dorian over the roof of the car.

“Don’t look like that. I snagged you two extra cinnamon doughnuts.”

“A bribe, Dorian?” John smiled at him, still giddy from their night before, and then rearranged his features into his usual scowl. He’d terrify everyone at the precinct if he walked around smiling like that.

“Max wants to see Valerie. I figured we could stop by the hospital. Captain Maldonado said it was fine.”

“Sandy said it was fine if we visited. I’m pretty sure she’s not going to be fine with us bringing Max here.”

“John, the review board is tomorrow. Max just wants to say goodbye.”

John looked down at his shoes, debating internally. He’d agreed, sometime during their endless lovemaking last night, to allow Dorian to take the risk of being in a romantic relationship with him, against his better judgment. Still, one of these days Dorian could be the one facing a review board and a decommissioning sentence. In his more maudlin moments, John wondered if the ever-present threat of decommissioning was what made their relationship so deep and so intense, so quickly. 

“I’d want someone to take me to you.” Dorian said quietly.

“Valerie is married. I’m not sure she returns this guy’s feelings.” 

“She calls him Max.” John sighed. Everyone knew that Valerie had indeed befriended the MX. He followed her around like a lovesick puppy. Figures she’d get the compliant, easy-going one while he got the sassy, snarky, smart-mouthed…love of his life.

“Fine. Get in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we had only a few prompts left, I used the vague prompts for “ridiculous, sweet, and hot” to rescue the MX. These are pretty loose interpretations of the prompts.


	28. Doing something ridiculous, sweet, and hot (Part Two of Three)

They drove across town to the hospital. Max protested when John used the lights to ease them through morning rush hour but Dorian managed to shut him up and keep John from shoving him out of the car. In the lobby of the hospital, the MX veered away from the elevator and marched into the gift shop, John and Dorian trailing behind. 

“What is he doing?” John hissed to Dorian as the MX headed straight for a refrigerator full of flowers and retrieved a bouquet of yellow and white roses. At the register, the MX turned expectantly to John to cover the bill.

“He got her flowers. That’s adorable.” Dorian said as John just gaped. Dorian handed over John’s bitcoin ignoring his protest and they headed for the elevators. The MX led them unerringly down the hall to Valerie’s room, John and Dorian still trailing behind. Sandy sat by the bed, sipping coffee as she and Val watched a morning news segment. 

It had almost been worth his bizarre morning to see the dumbfounded look on his sister’s face when John walked in with not one but two androids. The MX carefully placed the flowers on Valerie’s bedside table, moving aside John’s own offering of pink carnations from the day before. 

“Good morning, Detective Stahl.” The MX greeted her in his usual bland tones.

“Hi, Max.” Valerie reached out and took his hand. “Thank you for saving me—for saving all of us—in that alley. You were very brave.”

“DRN-0167 explained that you will recover. In the alley, I placed your chances of survival at less than ten percent. I am…glad…to see that I was wrong.” He clasped her hand and stood at attention at her bedside. Dorian moved to greet Valerie as Sandra shoved John into the hallway. 

“He wanted to come…He even bought her flowers…” John tried to stave off yet another lecture from his bossy big sister.

“I’ve been thinking about the hearing tomorrow. He did save you all. What if…could you and Dorian testify…that his actions saved you?”

“Yes, and it wouldn’t even be a lie. His scream scared the InSyndicate so badly that they stopped long enough for us to slide out the back way. And he kept pressure on her wound, probably saving her life. But, Sandy…do you think it’ll be enough to save him?”

“I think it’s worth a try.”


	29. Doing something ridiculous, sweet, and hot (Part Three of Three)

In the precinct restroom, Dorian stood behind John at the mirror, retying his black necktie. John squirmed as Dorian straightened his collar. Dorian helped him into his gray suit jacket, smoothing his jacket over his shoulders.

“You’d have made a good butler.” John complimented Dorian.

“It’s valets that help people dress, not butlers, which you’d know if you’d ever watch Downton Abbey with me.”

“That’s not happening.” John turned and Dorian dropped a quick peck on his lips. 

“You clean up nicely, Detective Kennex.” 

John swallowed hard and leaned against Dorian’s shoulder, sucking in deep yoga breaths like he’d learned in rehab. It didn’t help. He could still feel his pulse pounding in his head. His stomach swooped toward his dress shoes. His fingertips and toes felt numb and cold. Though he was used to testifying in court and even had appeared before various review boards once or twice, today was different. Today, he was their last, best chance to save Max. 

What had the world come to when John Kennex was responsible for saving an MX?

Dorian wrapped his arms around him and clasped one hand on the back of his neck, bringing their foreheads together. “Just tell the truth, John. Max will be fine.”

Dorian walked him to the conference room, giving his hand a subtle squeeze before sitting in the visitors chair next to a pale Sandy and a grim-faced Richard. John tried to smile at all of them but ended up grimacing instead before walking into the overheated conference room. 

Max sat at the far end of the table, blank-faced. John sat down, facing the two men and three woman that would decide the MX’s fate. He fought the urge to fidget or scratch his face or betray his nerves in any way as sweat started to pool at the small of his back. 

“Tell us what happened in the alley, Detective Kennex…”

For over an hour, John patiently addressed each of their questions, repeatedly discussing the events in the alley and emphasizing how the MX’s quick thinking and decisive actions saved all of them. 

“One last question, Detective.” An older woman, with pale hair and watery, red-rimmed blue eyes leaned forward. John thought she was the deputy chief of Internal Affairs but couldn’t recall her name. “In the attack that took your leg, the MX unit in the alley refused to assist you to rescue Detective Pelham. On that day, he died and you were grievously wounded. When questioned about that incident, you blamed the—and I quote—heartless, soulless, bastard machine. Today, you’ve given us a stirring defense of that same type of machine. So, I ask you, what changed?”

John swallowed hard, as a thousand mental snapshots of his life with Dorian cascaded through his mind. Dorian singing ridiculous Elton John songs, just to make him laugh. Dorian riding that horse at the Double D Ranch in Montana. Dorian idly playing with the St. Christopher medal he’d given him. He couldn’t give her the real answer—that he’d fallen madly in love with his DRN unit. 

Instead, he just said, “The facts of the two raids are different. Pelham couldn’t be saved that day. Thanks to her MX unit, Stahl was. The MX unit deserves credit for his smart, creative distraction and his bravery in getting us all out.” 

As they had no more questions, he excused himself to wait with the others in the hall. Dorian and Richard testified next and then Sandy was called in to hear the verdict. She walked out, patting the MX’s shoulder. 

“Head on down to your charging unit.” She said kindly, as Max trotted away.

“He got off?” John breathed, wonder in his voice. Maybe miracles did happen every day.

“They agreed that he showed creativity and valor in the field.” Sandra nodded as the review board filed out. As they disappeared around the corner, John turned and flung his arms around Dorian’s neck. They hugged tightly, not caring who saw them. Richard clapped John on the shoulder and headed off with Sandy.

That night, as they sat on his sofa at home, John inhaling an enormous bowl of popcorn, he let the DRN flip on his favorite show. As the credits rolled over Downton Abbey, John said, “I guess I must really love you, letting you pick the program and all.”

Dorian reached over and took his hand. “I guess you really must.”


	30. Getting Married

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today, we have some special guest stars to tell us about John and Dorian’s wedding. For the AOS Star Trek universe, this scene would be set at the very end of STID, just before Jim wakes up.

“My mama always said that the first human-android wedding was planned by a six-year old.” Bones began, his voice slightly hoarse from talking so long. Jim didn’t answer, just remained quiet and still on the humming biobed at Starfleet Medical in San Francisco. For nearly two weeks, Bones spent every day delivering lengthy soliloquies next to Jim’s bed, hoping for any reaction from his still form. 

So far, it was unabated agony.

Bones continued, “It took a while for them to get it legalized. I can’t imagine John as the poster boy for a human-android marriage PR campaign, can you? But, eventually, they did it.” 

He leaned over and picked up Jim’s still hand, sandwiching it between his own. “I wonder who proposed? Probably Dorian—it seems like something he’d do. But maybe John. I think he was a traditionalist at heart. History doesn’t record those details.”

“So, at the time they got married, Ella—that’s my great times four grandma—was fully in her princess stage. That’s how the first human-android wedding occurred in the Tangled wedding pavilion at Disneyland, right in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The grooms are both dressed as Flynn Ryder because neither would dress as Maximus.”

Bones pressed his forehead to the back of Jim’s hand, closing his eyes, remembering watching the old animated film together at the Academy. Jim had an addiction to Disney movies. They’d made it through the whole canon at the Academy. What he wouldn’t give to be there now, safely watching a film, instead of here, keeping vigil over Jim as a madman’s blood pulled him, a cell at a time, back from the brink of death.

“Ella wore a combination of her princess costumes.” Bones glanced down at the old holo-picture. “I think that’s Belle’s dress but I’m not sure who’s tiara she’s wearing. She was the flower girl. Not sure where they honeymooned. Maybe at Disneyland. A few months later, Ella’s twin baby brothers came along and Dorian left the force to become a stay-at-home dad. By all accounts, Dorian and John were really happy together until John’s death, just at the turn of the century.”

Jim didn’t move and Bones wondered, as he had every few minutes since he’d shoved Jim into a cryotube, if this would all be for naught. 

If Jim would just never wake up and he’d have to continue on his own…

“I used to ask my mama what happened to Dorian, after John passed away.” Bones swallowed hard against the tears gathering. “She never told me. I can’t imagine him wanting to go on…after the love of his life was gone.” 

Bones looked up at Jim’s still face then. “I shoulda said yes all those times you asked me, Jim. Wish you’d wake up so I could say it now.” 

Jim remained stubbornly still and silent. They’d been steadily withdrawing the sedatives that had kept Jim under during the transfusion and subsequent recovery coma. He should be awake by now. 

But not his Jim. 

Stubborn bastard that he was.

“Anyway, I did some research while you’ve been sleeping. I think I know where Dorian is…who he is…now. If you wake up, I can introduce you to him.” Jim stayed still and quiet. “You’ve met him once already. He doesn’t look just the same any more. Do you remember Geoff M’Benga…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> t’s a popular theory in the McKirk fandom that M’Benga is Dorian. I know we’d all love to see Michael Ealy play M’Benga in the next film :-)
> 
> Once again, this could be read as an epilogue to my AH/AOS Star Trek crossover story, Temporal Paradox. 
> 
> This is my third 30 day challenge and it’s been by far the most fun as I wrote in tandem with the amazing WeWillSpockYou, NaughtyPastryChef, ReadItHoney, KCGirl, GoWashTheLights, and Mangochi. Thanks for making it super fun ladies!


End file.
